Calcars continues to work with the Electric Auto Association members to bring a do-it-yourself kit to hybrid owners with moxie. The Senate bill is known as the FREEDOM Act ("Fuel Reduction using Electrons to End Dependence On the Mideast Act of 2007"); the House bill the more prosaic "Plug-in Hybrid Opportunity Act of 2007." The Detroit News Autos Insider column today is reporting on Congressional efforts to promote plug-in hybrids and the backlash from the automakers. MORE

One of my fellow 914 AC kit EV'ers is Randy Pollock. He's been extremely helpful in my understanding of how this kit works. About three weeks ago, he sent me a few pictures on his own 914 AC EV project that uses the Electro Automotive kit. MORE

A modification of the prior strap is basically what is suggested in the DC kit instructions. It turns out that the only copper interconnect that fit right out of the kit bag was the completely flat bar with two holes. Tonight was an evening of heavy lifting. MORE

On a more positive note, Ross Cunniff got his 914 AC kit running recently and Bob has been making progress on his BMW 325i performance EV (see links at right). In the meantime, I'm helping other folks using the AC kits with the Azure Dynamics controller get their systems working. Well, it's been over a month since I've posted since the holidays are here and I'm still waiting for the transmission to get back. MORE

I received an updated wiring diagram for the AC kit from ElectroAuto, and, much to my disappointment, many of the connections went between the battery caps. Ugh, I'm dehydrated, exhausted and mad at this inanimate object. I must love doing this conversion. MORE

The real gamble is how fast the rest of the kit shows up. Unfortunately, I'm betting that ElectroAuto is going to take awhile before delivering the remainder of the kit, so I'll probably hold onto these for a bit. I received the suspension parts from ElectroAuto today. MORE

The dangling white and green wire go to the ammeter shunt and the dangling black wire I think is not used in the AC kit. Whew! I spent the evening debugging the small sparking issue I ran into yesterday. MORE

Note: The AC kit instructions don't say what to install the charger tray with. Whoosh! Despite being exhausted from yesterday, I got up early this morning and just cranked through a bunch of EV stuff on my day off. Here is the board that the charger tray mounts to. MORE

For some reason, I had an extra cap-plug left over from the kit, so I used it to protect the cable from the sharp metal edges. I had a bit more time today to work on some other small projects. Here's the 914 patiently waiting for its rebuilt transmission from Rennsport Systems. MORE

Here is the 9-in-1 wire for the AC kit pulled through the grommet between the passenger compartment and the fuel compartment. WARNING: the DC kit instructions call for 1/4"-20 x 1/2" bolts to hold on the DC-DC converter; however, the holes actually take 10-32 x 3/8" bolts instead. MORE

I've already added the 3-hole cap-plug provided in the kit. After cutting all the tape that bound the engine compartment cables together, I slid on the three-hole cap-plug from the kit and bonded it in place with silicone sealant. MORE

As I mentioned before, I'm replacing the #2 gauge cable provided in the kit with a thicker 2/0 welding cable. I'm still a cheapskate and will still use the #2 gauge lugs with 5/16" holes provided in the kit. MORE

The original kit doesn't use the red light and the green light is simply grounded. After receiving an updated.css file (ccShell config file) from Azure Dynamics for the DMOC445, I was able to access the EE1SpeedoDiv variable. MORE

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to contact the folks at Electro Automotive to get the status of the EV 914 kit. They finally responded last night and apparently they're completely buried under the demand for EV conversion kits. He got one of the earlier DC motor kits for the 914 from Electro Automotive. Besides, the PowerCheq units only handle 12 volt batteries and the ElectroAuto kit is designed for 8-volt golf-cart batteries, so a homebrew system will be required. MORE

On minor disappointment is that the cable supplied in the kit is #2 gauge cable. I suppose the AC kit doesn't require as much current as the DC kit, but I'll take all the efficiency I can get at this point. YeeHaw! The crate from Electro Automotive finally showed up. MORE

I wish all the other 914 AC kit owners luck. I wish Ross the best in getting the second 914 AC kit on the road Last week Craig at Camp914 offered to lend me another transmission to see if I had vibrational issues. I drove out to Camp914 this morning. MORE

They provided an upgrade kit with lock washers and loctite to remedy the problem. Here are the pieces for the upgrade kit above one of the motor bolts. In short, a lock washer and flat washer replace the nylon ones that came with the kit. MORE

Since I live in Portland, Oregon, I went to a meeting with the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association and found out about several companies that provided drop-in electric conversion kits for existing cars. After doing some research, I found Electro Automotive out of Felton, CA and put down the $13,000 for one of their latest AC motor conversion kits for the Porsche 914. I hope everyone had a great 2006 and I wish you all the best for 2007MORE

I recently sent off an e-mail to Azure Dynamics, the maker of the DMOC445 AC motor controller in the 914 kit. Thanks Beth Silverman * From: Tim Kutscha [mailto:tim_kutscha@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 8:34 PM To: Beth Silverman Cc: tim_kutscha@yahoo.com Subject: Re: tapping into the encoder signals to drive the RPM gauge Hi Beth, I hope you had a good two days off last week. MORE

I received a package from Azure Dynamics yesterday with a field upgrade to the bolts on the AC24 motor for the EV kit. Apparently, the nylon washers weren't good enough to hold the bolts in under all conditions and some of them may get loose. MORE

My 914ev partner-in-crime Randy (who purchased the very first 914 AC kit from ElectroAuto) e-mailed me some photographs of how he's wiring up his terminal blocks and relays. Excerpt from Randy's e-mail: I've also started on the wiring kit. MORE

With the motor out, I'm going to look into RPM kits for electric cars that use spinning magnets on the flywheel with a magnetic sensor to generate a signal. Since I don't work Fridays, this is the end of my second week commuting to work fifteen miles each way. Two things have definitely made the car more fun to drive. The batteries are broken in so I have more current to work with and more importantly 2. I've learned some of the tricks to driving the car. MORE

One of the other 914 kit converters questioned why the accessory battery couldn't stay in the original tray, but I decided to remove it anyway and have the accessory battery up in the front trunk near the DC/DC converter. MORE

Today, I installed the last kit piece that I have from Electro Automotive: the motor controller wiring harness. Here's the harness plugged into the controller and fed through the two-inch computer grommet from the last blog entry. MORE

The 914 AC kit uses 8V golf cart batteries and I'm wondering if different batteries like Hawkers or Optima Yellow-Top batteries would be better. The kit was specificially designed for the US-Battery model and the equivalent Trojan battery is just 1/8" of an inch larger in one dimension, so I'm guessing it won't fit in the battery cases provided by ElectroAuto (grrr.). MORE

The fifth wire called for in the AC kit instructions is supposed to be black with a yellow stripe for the rear brake lights. With the motor/transmission bolted into the chassis and all the mechanical shafts/cables attached, I'm starting the wiring. MORE

After studying the AC kit diagrams and reading the motor controller documentation from Azure Dynamics, I think I understand a little better what all these relays and terminal strips are for. Today was a day for really getting my brain wrapped around the initial wiring. MORE

Note: the kit instructions mention that the bolts that tie the motor mount in the kit to the front Porsche motor mount are 3 1/2 inches long; however, I think this is a typo because I had to go back and purchase 2 1/2 inch bolts because the 3 1/2 ones were almost exactly one inch too long. MORE

Apparently I'm the only person with an operational AC kit currently, although several other people are hot on the trail to finishing theirs. Mike doesn't have an AC kit 914 back at the ranch. I just got off the phone with Mike at Electro Automotive. We chatted about the blown CCPower DC-DC converter and the engine vibrations. Since I fixed the DC-DC converter, we agreed that I would try to find out which conditions would cause it to blow again, if it does. MORE

I still need to add the spring, cotter-pin and 5mm threaded barrel listed in the instructions, so I hope those come later with the remainder of the kit parts. Electro Auto shipped their first AC wiring harness to the first AC kit customer and it arrived today. MORE

Many journalists tend to have pack-rat tendencies, but sorting out old press kits, files, and magazines can have unexpected rewards. So it was for auto writer John Rettie, who recently uncovered an interesting tidbit in an issue of Driver, the in-house magazine sent out by Volkswagen of America to owners of its cars. Rettie had written a story for. Future Cars VW plug-in cars Volkswagen diesel scandal MORE

pre-made 24" battery cable with lugs (from NAPA) #2 philips/standard screwdrivers pliers small utility knife to cut insulation small 12V SLA battery to bootstrap the system if 12V battery dies Again, what would you add/subtract/modify in this kit? Before the accessory battery discharge yesterday, I wrote down a list of things to keep in the EV in case there was a breakdown out on the road. I came up with the following items. Any comments for additions or modifications would be welcome. MORE

Use the existing and growing base of hybrids, offer kits to authorized installers, and give ZEV credit to the original manufacturer in exchange for not killing the car's warranty. Les Goldman wants you to convert (your hybrid.) Easy as 123. MORE

Since this kit is the 914 AC kit, I have no idea how to install the controller plate. I've contacted Randy Pollock, the first person to order a 914 AC kit and he and I are working to figure this out. MORE

A few people asked me about how I hacked together a serial port since AC kit people will need this in order to configure the controller correctly. I basically took three 16 gauge wires (smaller would be fine) and soldered on crimp sockets at the end of each one. MORE

In the original kit instructions, the regen relay turns on the brake lights when the AC controller is in regen mode. I recommend this alteration to anyone using this kit! Well, today was a good day. MORE

The kit requires the 12V accessory battery to run the exhaust fans while the car charges overnight, so I altered the circuit to use an external 12V laptop supply instead so I wouldn't drain the accessory battery. Okay, things don't seem to be working too well. We have three issues: 1. MORE

I received an updated wiring diagram for the AC kit from ElectroAuto, and, much to my disappointment, many of the connections went between the battery caps. Ugh, I'm dehydrated, exhausted and mad at this inanimate object. I must love doing this conversion.

Many journalists tend to have pack-rat tendencies, but sorting out old press kits, files, and magazines can have unexpected rewards. So it was for auto writer John Rettie, who recently uncovered an interesting tidbit in an issue of Driver, the in-house magazine sent out by Volkswagen of America to owners of its cars. Rettie had written a story for. Future Cars VW plug-in cars Volkswagen diesel scandal

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On minor disappointment is that the cable supplied in the kit is #2 gauge cable. I suppose the AC kit doesn't require as much current as the DC kit, but I'll take all the efficiency I can get at this point. YeeHaw! The crate from Electro Automotive finally showed up.

I've already added the 3-hole cap-plug provided in the kit. After cutting all the tape that bound the engine compartment cables together, I slid on the three-hole cap-plug from the kit and bonded it in place with silicone sealant.

One of my fellow 914 AC kit EV'ers is Randy Pollock. He's been extremely helpful in my understanding of how this kit works. About three weeks ago, he sent me a few pictures on his own 914 AC EV project that uses the Electro Automotive kit.

I wish all the other 914 AC kit owners luck. I wish Ross the best in getting the second 914 AC kit on the road Last week Craig at Camp914 offered to lend me another transmission to see if I had vibrational issues. I drove out to Camp914 this morning.

My 914ev partner-in-crime Randy (who purchased the very first 914 AC kit from ElectroAuto) e-mailed me some photographs of how he's wiring up his terminal blocks and relays. Excerpt from Randy's e-mail: I've also started on the wiring kit.

They provided an upgrade kit with lock washers and loctite to remedy the problem. Here are the pieces for the upgrade kit above one of the motor bolts. In short, a lock washer and flat washer replace the nylon ones that came with the kit.

A modification of the prior strap is basically what is suggested in the DC kit instructions. It turns out that the only copper interconnect that fit right out of the kit bag was the completely flat bar with two holes. Tonight was an evening of heavy lifting.

Here is the 9-in-1 wire for the AC kit pulled through the grommet between the passenger compartment and the fuel compartment. WARNING: the DC kit instructions call for 1/4"-20 x 1/2" bolts to hold on the DC-DC converter; however, the holes actually take 10-32 x 3/8" bolts instead.

I received a package from Azure Dynamics yesterday with a field upgrade to the bolts on the AC24 motor for the EV kit. Apparently, the nylon washers weren't good enough to hold the bolts in under all conditions and some of them may get loose.

One of my fellow 914 AC kit EV'ers is Randy Pollock. He's been extremely helpful in my understanding of how this kit works. About three weeks ago, he sent me a few pictures on his own 914 AC EV project that uses the Electro Automotive kit.

I wish all the other 914 AC kit owners luck. I wish Ross the best in getting the second 914 AC kit on the road Last week Craig at Camp914 offered to lend me another transmission to see if I had vibrational issues. I drove out to Camp914 this morning.

For some reason, I had an extra cap-plug left over from the kit, so I used it to protect the cable from the sharp metal edges. I had a bit more time today to work on some other small projects. Here's the 914 patiently waiting for its rebuilt transmission from Rennsport Systems.

As I mentioned before, I'm replacing the #2 gauge cable provided in the kit with a thicker 2/0 welding cable. I'm still a cheapskate and will still use the #2 gauge lugs with 5/16" holes provided in the kit.

A few people asked me about how I hacked together a serial port since AC kit people will need this in order to configure the controller correctly. I basically took three 16 gauge wires (smaller would be fine) and soldered on crimp sockets at the end of each one.

The real gamble is how fast the rest of the kit shows up. Unfortunately, I'm betting that ElectroAuto is going to take awhile before delivering the remainder of the kit, so I'll probably hold onto these for a bit. I received the suspension parts from ElectroAuto today.

The original kit doesn't use the red light and the green light is simply grounded. After receiving an updated.css file (ccShell config file) from Azure Dynamics for the DMOC445, I was able to access the EE1SpeedoDiv variable.

I still need to add the spring, cotter-pin and 5mm threaded barrel listed in the instructions, so I hope those come later with the remainder of the kit parts. Electro Auto shipped their first AC wiring harness to the first AC kit customer and it arrived today.

Use the existing and growing base of hybrids, offer kits to authorized installers, and give ZEV credit to the original manufacturer in exchange for not killing the car's warranty. Les Goldman wants you to convert (your hybrid.) Easy as 123.

The dangling white and green wire go to the ammeter shunt and the dangling black wire I think is not used in the AC kit. Whew! I spent the evening debugging the small sparking issue I ran into yesterday.

After studying the AC kit diagrams and reading the motor controller documentation from Azure Dynamics, I think I understand a little better what all these relays and terminal strips are for. Today was a day for really getting my brain wrapped around the initial wiring.

Note: the kit instructions mention that the bolts that tie the motor mount in the kit to the front Porsche motor mount are 3 1/2 inches long; however, I think this is a typo because I had to go back and purchase 2 1/2 inch bolts because the 3 1/2 ones were almost exactly one inch too long.

The kit requires the 12V accessory battery to run the exhaust fans while the car charges overnight, so I altered the circuit to use an external 12V laptop supply instead so I wouldn't drain the accessory battery. Okay, things don't seem to be working too well. We have three issues: 1.

Note: The AC kit instructions don't say what to install the charger tray with. Whoosh! Despite being exhausted from yesterday, I got up early this morning and just cranked through a bunch of EV stuff on my day off. Here is the board that the charger tray mounts to.

One of the other 914 kit converters questioned why the accessory battery couldn't stay in the original tray, but I decided to remove it anyway and have the accessory battery up in the front trunk near the DC/DC converter.

The fifth wire called for in the AC kit instructions is supposed to be black with a yellow stripe for the rear brake lights. With the motor/transmission bolted into the chassis and all the mechanical shafts/cables attached, I'm starting the wiring.

Today, I installed the last kit piece that I have from Electro Automotive: the motor controller wiring harness. Here's the harness plugged into the controller and fed through the two-inch computer grommet from the last blog entry.

On a more positive note, Ross Cunniff got his 914 AC kit running recently and Bob has been making progress on his BMW 325i performance EV (see links at right). In the meantime, I'm helping other folks using the AC kits with the Azure Dynamics controller get their systems working. Well, it's been over a month since I've posted since the holidays are here and I'm still waiting for the transmission to get back.

Calcars continues to work with the Electric Auto Association members to bring a do-it-yourself kit to hybrid owners with moxie. The Senate bill is known as the FREEDOM Act ("Fuel Reduction using Electrons to End Dependence On the Mideast Act of 2007"); the House bill the more prosaic "Plug-in Hybrid Opportunity Act of 2007." The Detroit News Autos Insider column today is reporting on Congressional efforts to promote plug-in hybrids and the backlash from the automakers.

pre-made 24" battery cable with lugs (from NAPA) #2 philips/standard screwdrivers pliers small utility knife to cut insulation small 12V SLA battery to bootstrap the system if 12V battery dies Again, what would you add/subtract/modify in this kit? Before the accessory battery discharge yesterday, I wrote down a list of things to keep in the EV in case there was a breakdown out on the road. I came up with the following items. Any comments for additions or modifications would be welcome.

Apparently I'm the only person with an operational AC kit currently, although several other people are hot on the trail to finishing theirs. Mike doesn't have an AC kit 914 back at the ranch. I just got off the phone with Mike at Electro Automotive. We chatted about the blown CCPower DC-DC converter and the engine vibrations. Since I fixed the DC-DC converter, we agreed that I would try to find out which conditions would cause it to blow again, if it does.

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to contact the folks at Electro Automotive to get the status of the EV 914 kit. They finally responded last night and apparently they're completely buried under the demand for EV conversion kits. He got one of the earlier DC motor kits for the 914 from Electro Automotive. Besides, the PowerCheq units only handle 12 volt batteries and the ElectroAuto kit is designed for 8-volt golf-cart batteries, so a homebrew system will be required.

I recently sent off an e-mail to Azure Dynamics, the maker of the DMOC445 AC motor controller in the 914 kit. Thanks Beth Silverman * From: Tim Kutscha [mailto:tim_kutscha@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 8:34 PM To: Beth Silverman Cc: tim_kutscha@yahoo.com Subject: Re: tapping into the encoder signals to drive the RPM gauge Hi Beth, I hope you had a good two days off last week.

With the motor out, I'm going to look into RPM kits for electric cars that use spinning magnets on the flywheel with a magnetic sensor to generate a signal. Since I don't work Fridays, this is the end of my second week commuting to work fifteen miles each way. Two things have definitely made the car more fun to drive. The batteries are broken in so I have more current to work with and more importantly 2. I've learned some of the tricks to driving the car.

Since I live in Portland, Oregon, I went to a meeting with the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association and found out about several companies that provided drop-in electric conversion kits for existing cars. After doing some research, I found Electro Automotive out of Felton, CA and put down the $13,000 for one of their latest AC motor conversion kits for the Porsche 914. I hope everyone had a great 2006 and I wish you all the best for 2007

The 914 AC kit uses 8V golf cart batteries and I'm wondering if different batteries like Hawkers or Optima Yellow-Top batteries would be better. The kit was specificially designed for the US-Battery model and the equivalent Trojan battery is just 1/8" of an inch larger in one dimension, so I'm guessing it won't fit in the battery cases provided by ElectroAuto (grrr.).